Samsung Planning ‘Moto 360’-Like Round Smartwatch, Patents Reveal

Samsung has a series of patents registered with the USPTO that suggest it may have a round smartwatch on the way.
USPTO

Several of Samsung's patented smartwatch designs show a camera built into the wristband, a design the the manufacturer edited out of its second wave of wearables.
USPTO

Motorola's Moto 360 is the only round smartwatch that's been officially announced, but a trio of Samsung patents suggest that may not be the case for long.
USPTO

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Samsung wants to make sure it has all of its smartwatch bases covered, according to a slewofpatents it filed for in March. The designs show that the Korean manufacturer may have a circular design in mind, much like the upcoming Moto 360 from Motorola.

The designs were approved earlier this week by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and showcase three different watch faces, all different from the five different smartwatches that Samsung Electronics (KRX:005930) currently sells.

Other than a series of round faces that call to mind the Moto 360, Samsung’s designs show a series of interesting features, including a gesture control system and charging port built into the clasp.

Samsung has patented a way of incorporating the charging port into the watchband's clasp. USPTO

Samsung filed for the patents in March, the same month that Google announced its Android Wear smartwatch platform, but before Samsung rolled out its second wave of smartwatches, like the Gear 2, Neo and Fit. One of the patents shows a camera in the watchband, like the original Samsung Galaxy Gear -- a design note the company later dropped.

Samsung, while not part of the initial wave of Android Wear manufacturing partners, later joined Google at its annual developer’s conference to announce the Gear Live. The Google-powered smartwatch was little more than a slimmed-down version of the company’s Gear 2. The manufacturer’s lack of enthusiasm for Android Wear reportedly irked Google CEO Larry Page.

There is no guarantee that Samsung is going to release a round Android Wear smartwatch, as many companies patent designs they never use. However, some of the designs are intriguing, nonetheless.